Step detection and step length estimation have recently received increased attention. One reason for this increased attention is the emergence of a pedestrian navigation system (PNS). Parallel to a global navigation system (GPS) for vehicle navigation, the pedestrian navigation system provides navigation instructions to a user for navigating around an area, such as an office building or shopping mall.
A number of models and technologies have been proposed and developed for pedestrian navigation. However, because the technologies are still in their infancy and because the accuracy of current step detection and step length estimation techniques is limited, these models and technologies are still far short of providing a useful navigation system for users.